The Missing Bride
by Lauralogan80
Summary: The bride is missing, but where has she gone? Did she get cold feet and run? Or is something more sinister going on? (Warning: Dark fic ahead)
1. Chapter 1

(I don't own these characters)

The blonde silently wept. Three months. Three months she had been trapped here. Three months ago she was supposed to have been married. She was then going to go on a tropical honeymoon with her loving husband. Then they would return, buy a home, have a family. The whole nine yards. Her first book had just been published. What had gone wrong? Why had he done this to her?

She looked around the room she was in, then down at her wrist. It was tied to the bed post.

She had tried to run. Big mistake.

Now she was back at the beginning, right where she had started.

She curled in a ball on the bed and continued to cry quietly. If she made a noise he would come and comfort her, and she didn't want that.

Oh, how Helga G Pataki hated him right then.

Here, she had nothing to do but think on how everything had turned to hell.

…

…

Three Months Earlier

..

"What do you think Pheebs?" Helga asked, twirling around and letting the bottom of the dress billow around her. "Too much?"

"I think it's beautiful," Phoebe said, smiling. "I love the bridesmaid dresses, too."

Helga had settled for blue bridesmaid dresses. Pink did not suit Phoebe at all. A shame. Helga was not one for believing that her bridesmaids should look ugly on the day. If Phoebe looked ugly, it would ruin the pictures.

She had gone with a Regency theme for the dresses. The bridesmaid dresses fell to the ground and were a light pink, but Helga matched Phoebe with a light blue spencer over the top. Olga was planning to wear green but Helga had told her that if she dared to go against the colour scheme she was _out_ of the bridal party.

Helga's veil was going to be fine lace that would lead into a train. If would not go over her face however, it would start from her hair down, and would have light pink ribbon on the edging. She had already decided to go with light pink pearls, for jewellery, and already had picked out white ballet flats, which she planned to glue pink pearls onto. She would have earrings, necklace no bracelet though, as she would be wearing satin gloves to her elbows.

She was glad they had chosen Autumn for the wedding too. She already had on a chemise, corset, and three petticoats. Part of her was asking herself why. Why was she putting herself through this?

"Do you think Patrick will make it through the reception?" Phoebe asked.

"Who knows," Helga said, smoothing her hand over the dress. She was in love with it, it fit perfectly. Which was good, because she had two days. She was paranoid about gaining a incy wincy bit of weight, so had been living on very small amounts of meat, with bigger servings of salads, vegetables and fruit.

"Oh, you will never believe who I bumped into the other day," Phoebe exclaimed suddenly. Helga turned around and raised a brow.

"Who?" she asked. Phoebe was so excited.

"Gerald Johansson and Arnold!" she gushed.

"Oh, are they in town?" Helga asked, all nonchalance. She rarely, if ever thought of Arnold these days. Hadn't in years in fact. He had moved away, they attempted contact, but eventually life had gotten the better of both of them and they gave up.

Well Helga did.

Arnold sent three letters, but after she didn't reply to them he gave up and she had never heard from him again. The last letter she had sent, she had mentioned Patrick, but only in passing. It had been love at first sight. She sighed remembering her first meeting with Patrick in the garden of her Sorority House. She had been puking from having had too much to drink, and she had felt someone pull her hair back and hold it for her.

"From that to this," she said quietly, shaking her head and smiling.

"What?" Phoebe asked.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking about mine and Patrick's first encounter. From holding my hair while I threw up, to getting married to me five years later," she said, laughing. "Who would've guessed?"

"It _is_ an odd way to meet your husband, I suppose," Phoebe mused. She had gone to a different University to Helga, and had a very different experience. She had never joined a sorority, only had one romance. It had ended badly, and hurt Phoebe deeply, so she was now much more careful about the men she met. Helga had tried to set her up with some of Patrick's friends, but it never seems to get past the first date. Helga eventually gave up, figuring Phoebe would find someone when she was ready.

"Anyway, I bumped into Arnold and Gerald the other day, and we were talking and I mentioned your getting married," Phoebe said. "Gerald practically chocked on his coffee and demanded to know what mad man would marry Helga G Pataki, and Arnold just smiled and said good luck."

"That's nice," Helga said. "Can you pass me the comb?"

Phoebe passed the comb to Helga, and watched as her friend left some tendrils down and did the rest into a messy bun and secured it in place with the comb. It was a pretty comb, also with pearls on it.

"Anyway, Gerald is a radio DJ and Arnold is a doctor," Phoebe continued. She looked over to see Helga wasn't even paying attention. Phoebe smiled. When they were kids Helga was never one to ignore anything related to Arnold. Now? She didn't even flinch at his name."So are you meeting up with him again?" Helga asked.

"Who? Arnold?" Phoebe asked.

"No, Gerald, you dope," she said, laughing. "Why would you meet up with Arnold? Or is there something you aren't telling me?"

"I don't know, do you think I should?" Phoebe asked.

"Follow your heart, Phoebe darling," Helga said in a posh voice, teasing her soon-to-be mother in law.

"Well, he did give me his number," she said quietly.

"What have you got to lose?" Helga had asked.

…

…

Present.

…

"What a dumb move," Helga muttered to herself. If she could turn back time she would. And maybe she wouldn't be where she was now.


	2. Chapter 2

(Put your guesses in the reviews, though I think I've made it very obvious!)

….

…

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to her.

"What do you think?" she demanded tearfully. "That was supposed to be me!"

He sighed.

"I know, and I'm sorry," he said, stroking her hair. "But it's better that you know now. Imagine if you had married him and then he had done this? I saved you from that, Helga."

Helga refused to answer him. Her heart was broken. Stupid Phoebe. Stupid Gerald. Stupid Arnold, Lila and Patrick. How could Patrick move on so fast. She had only been gone three months. All that time she had thought about him. Getting away and getting back to him. It was what kept her going. So she finally escapes, and sees him, opens her mouth to call out to him, but her voice crawled back down her throat as she sees Lila with him, arm linked through his, leaning into him, and him leaning back.

So focused on it that she didn't even feel the needle go into her arm. As her eyes grew heavy, and her body limp, all she could feel was her heart breaking. It didn't even cross her mind that she had just lost her chance to escape.

"I love you, Helga," he whispered to her, kissing her cheek. She didn't pull away or flinch. She didn't feel anything anymore. "I'll always be here for you, just like you were always there for me."

…

…

Three Months Ago, two days before the Wedding

…

"I'm so nervous!" Phoebe cried. Helga raised an eyebrow at her best friend since forever.

"It's just Gerald," she said laughing. She felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out. A message from Patrick.

~_Cnt make it 2nyt, babe, sori. C u 2moro_?~

"Great, Patrick just pulled out," Helga said, sighing and throwing her phone onto her bed. "Third wheel."

"Oh . . . Well, maybe we should cancel then?" Phoebe suggested.

"No, no, you go ahead," Helga told her, waving her hand in the air. "Have fun. I'll work on some last minute details."

"Okay," Phoebe said, and went into the bathroom. She sent Gerald a text telling him it was only going to be him and her because Patrick couldn't make it, so Helga pulled out.

~_No worries, I'll bring Arnold_~

Phoebe looked at his answer for a while and thought it over. Would it really be a good idea to do something like that? Especially right before Helga's wedding? What if Arnold charmed her and Helga fell in love with him again or something? That would be awful.

Outside Helga was sitting on the couch flipping through her notebook. There was so much to do still. She felt like she had been planning this wedding forever. When would it end? Would everything go alright. She sighed. And after the wedding, there would be house hunting. Then they would have to furnish the house.

"Good thing my advance came," she mumbled. She looked up when Phoebe came out looking a little distressed. "What's wrong?"

"Gerald is bringing Arnold," she said.

"So he's the third wheel?" Helga asked.

"No. it's so neither of you would be a third wheel," Phoebe said. She watched for Helga's reaction.

"Fine," she said, closing her notebook. "What are we doing?"

"To check out the new fun park on the Pier," Phoebe said. "And probably just mooch around, maybe grab something to eat and see a movie."

Helga looked down at her notebook then up at Phoebe.

"I could use a break," she said. "I already cant wait for the wedding to be over."

"Okay, great, I'll let Gerald know."

…..

"This is nice," Arnold said, looking out at the water.

"Yeah, it's great to just relax and unwind for a couple of hours," Helga said. "Organizing a wedding is exhausting! And just when you think you have it all done, you find there's some little detail you've forgotten."

"How are the plans going?" Arnold asked, not looking at her.

"Almost perfect," she said. "Just the Hen's Night, tomorrow night, and I'm good to go."

"Your going to be hungover?" Arnold asked, smiling and finally looking at her.

"Probably, but so will Patrick," she said laughing. "That's why you have wine at the reception. If you keep on drinking, you wont get the hangover."

"Until your finished drinking," Arnold pointed out.

"Good point," Helga conceded. "I have a plan, that both Patrick and I follow. For ever one glass of alcohol consumed, we have two glasses of the same amount of water. Keeps the hangover monster away. One glass of booze equals to glasses of water. Seriously, it works."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, smiling at her. She looked away when she felt her pulse speed up.

'Wedding jitters, wedding jitters,' she kept saying to herself.

"Hey guys," Gerald said, coming over with his arm around Phoebe's shoulders. "Mind if I crash your wedding as Phoebe's date?"

"No, that should be fine," Helga said smiling.

"Sorry, Helga," Phoebe said, looking down.

"Not a problem," Helga said. "It's always a good idea to have an extra seat or two set aside for just this reason."

…

…

Helga opened her eyes, feeling nauseous. She sat up, and her head spun, but the prickling in the back of her neck told her she was going to be sick. As she grabbed a bucket and threw up the previous nights dinner at 2.20am she started to cry. He had succeeded, obviously.

At least he would be happy.


	3. Chapter 3

Helga watched as a second line showed up on the pregnancy test.

Positive.

"Helga, are you done?" he called through the door. She looked up at it, scowling. Getting up, she tipped the urine in the cup down the loo and flushed, chucking the small cup into the wastebasket, and taking her time to wash her hands. Make him wait. She threw some water over her face, and ran her wet fingers through her hair. She needed a haircut. Badly. She slapped her cheeks a little to get some colour back into them. She's gotten so pale in such a short space of time.

Finally she stepped out and handed him the test.

"Helga, this is fantastic!" he said. "We're going to have a family!"

…..

…..

Three Months Earlier: The Hen's Night

..

"It's so noisy!" Olga yelled over the thumping music.

"I know, isn't it great?" Helga called back laughing. "My last night as an un-married woman, Olga! Don't ruin it!"

Phoebe laughed at the pout Olga showed before walking off to a table in an attempt to find some quiet time.

She continued dancing, then finally went off to the bar to grab a drink.

"Wow, long time no see!" a voice called out to her. She looked up into the sparkling green eyes of Arnold.

"Are you stalking me, Arnold?" she asked, jokingly. "Two shots Tequila please!"

"Tequila, huh?" Arnold asked. "Sure that's a good idea?"

"The wet blankets are at Olga's table, somewhere," she turned around pointing randomly, "that way I think. Or maybe that way. I don't know, but they're not with me!"

"Fair enough," he said. "Vodka and lemonade, thanks."

The bartender put the two shot glasses, salt and lemon in front of Helga, who turned around and motioned Phoebe over. Phoebe came over and tipped salt on her hand, picked up her lemon, and shot the tequila back at the same time as Helga. Arnold watched amused.

"What's that like?" Helga asked, pointing to his drink.

"What this?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, taking it from him and taking a sip. "Nice."

"Can I get another for the lady then?" Arnold asked the bartender. He left to get what was asked. "Go take a seat, I'll bring it over."

Phoebe and Helga found a table and sat down. Helga suddenly felt exhausted.

"Oh my! It's two thirty!" Phoebe said, looking at her watch. "Helga your meant to get married in nine hours!"

"Oh, wow," she said, looking at her own watch. "Do you think we'll make it on time?"

"Here you go," Arnold said, sitting down next to Helga, and smiling at Phoebe. "Gerald's on his way now. I'm going to have to go in a bit though. Work tomorrow night."

"What a shame," Helga said, sipping from her drink. Arnold smiled at her.

"Hey, stop hogging," Gerald said, coming over. He pecked Phoebe on the cheek, and Helga raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I better get going," Arnold said, standing up. "See you soon, Helga. Later Gerald, Phoebe."

"Bye," they sang as he turned and left.

"We'll finish our drinks then we should probably head off as well," Phoebe said, looking at Gerald apologetically.

"No worries," he said. "How were you girls getting home?"

"Taxi," Phoebe said. Helga tuned them out and continued finishing her drink. Now she was real tired, and starting to feel the nerves. Nine hours and she'd be a married woman. Nine hours! She finished her drink without even realising it. Meh, she'll drink some water when she gets home.

"Helga, come on, Gerald's dropping us off," she said, nudging her friend, who looked ready to fall asleep.

"What? Oh, yeah, thanks man," she said, getting up. The whole room started to spin. Phoebe grabbed her before she fell.

"Jesus Pataki, you shouldn't drink so much right before an important event," Gerald said.

"I agree," Phoebe lectured. "What if you throw up on Patrick?"

Gerald laughed. "Man oh man, I am so glad I'm going to be there to witness that!"

He stopped laughing when Phoebe glared at him.

"Come on, let's get your drunk ass home," he said, helping Phoebe support her. They got her in that car, and Helga drifted in and out of conciousness.

"Helga?" Phoebe called. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, Pheebs, I'm fine," she said, sitting up.

"Um, Gerald has invited me back to his place, is that okay?" she asked.

"Sure, sure, just don't be late," Helga said, tumbling out of the car. "God, why did I do this to myself?"

She heard Gerald laughing. They stayed until she was inside and waved to them from the window. Phoebe and Gerald drove off leaving Helga in the house on her own.

She was checking all the doors were locked, gulped back four glasses of water, and was heading up the stairs when she heard a knock on the door. If she hadn't been so out of it, she would never have opened it without the security chain 'd been watching and waiting all night.

….

….

"What is this?" Helga asked, looking at the set table before her. He had gone all out. Fancy china, polished silverware, candles, and a roast chicken with roast vegetables, with a pot of gravy.

"Celebration dinner," he told her, pulling out her chair and guiding her to sit down in it. After securing her to the chair, he poured her a glass of sparkling grape juice, then himself one. Then she sat down and raised his glass to her.

"To family," he said.

Helga just stared at him.

"Come on, Helga," he said, smiling at her. "Be happy. Not only will our kids have both parents, they'll have parents who care."

Helga looked down at her plate. Could she care about this new life growing inside her?

"They won't be like you and I were," he continued. "Your parents never noticed you, right? You were always telling me that."

She nodded, tears springing to her eyes.

"And my parents weren't around," he said.

"We'll always be there for our kids and each other, Helga," he told her. "You'll have to let everyone know your okay and "back in town", of course. I know Phoebe will be happy to see you."

Helga looked away. The day of her wedding she had rung Phoebe herself, and told a bullshit story to her about how she couldn't go through with it, but she was fine, and not to worry about her. She was going to lay low for a while. Then come back when she was ready.

So no one had been looking for her. They all assumed she'd gotten cold feet and run off.

"So again," Arnold said, raising his glass. "To family."

…

…

BEEP

"Hey, Pheebs, it's me Helga! See you tomorrow night! I have some shocking news to tell you!"

BEEP

Tomorrow night? Phoebe thought, playing the message again. But tomorrow night she and Gerald were going to the boarding house to have dinner with Arnold. Then it clicked.

"Oh my God!"


	4. Chapter 4

Helga watched as Phoebe and Gerald came in. Both were surprised to see her, though Phoebe less so. Helga was hoping that she was just imagining the small frown of disapproval on Phoebe's face."Hello, Helga," she said coolie.

Helga wanted to cry, and throw her arms around her best friend and tell her everything. But she saw out of the corner of her eye that Arnold was watching her closely.

"Hey, Pheebs," she said, giving a shaky smile. "Would you like a drink?"

"Please," Phoebe said, leading the way to the kitchen. She stopped and leaned against the bench and watched as Helga got out some glasses, and then a bottle of wine from the fridge. She seemed to move automatically. Something was off. Phoebe could sense it. All Helga's movement looked mechanical and reluctant. She could see her friend looked like she was about to cry,

"What happened?" Phoebe whispered. Helga stopped what she was doing, but didn't look at Phoebe.

"I told you," she said. "I got cold feet."

"Cold feet? And then, what? You hid here the whole time?" Phoebe demanded.

"It's complicated," Helga said.

"Did you realise you were in love with Arnold still, or something? Is that what happened?" she continued.

"No, I . . . no, it's complicated. Please just drop it," Helga hissed.

"Drop what?" Arnold asked, as he and Gerald walked in.

Phoebe noticed that Helga went back to what she had been doing.

"Nothing," she said.

"I was asking Helga why she had ditched Patrick at the alter," Phoebe told him.

"Really?" Arnold asked, looking at Helga. "And what did she say?"

"Cold feet," Phoebe said, glaring at Helga. "Apparently."

….

….

Four Months Earlier

..

Helga's head was heavy, her eyes couldn't open. She felt dizzy, and didn't seem to be able to move.'Worst hangover ever' she thought to herself. It was cold too. She went to pull her covers up, but found her hands restrained. 'What the hell?' Looking up she saw they were tied above her head to the headboard.

"What the hell?" she said aloud. "What…"

Then she felt someone next to her move. Looking to her left she saw him.

"Arnold?" she asked confused. "What's going on?"

"Good morning," he said, smiling at her. "Bagal?"

"Bagal?" she asked dumbly. "Where am I? oh my god, did we have sex? Did we have kinky sex? Oh shit, I'm getting married in a couple of hours, untie me, oh my god!"

Arnold just laughed. "An hour ago."

"What?" she asked.

"You were supposed to have married Patrick an hour ago," Arnold told her. "But you were busy."

"Are you serious?" she asked. She looked down. "My clothes, where are they?"

He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, caressed her breast.

"You don't need them," he whispered in her ear. He kissed her neck, and then trailed down. Helga shivered.

"Is this a joke? Cause it's not funny," she said. "Let me go Arnold."

He ignored her, continuing his assault on her body.

"Arnold, are you listening to me?" she asked, as he kissed his way closer and closer to her private place. "Arnold, stop!"

When he stopped she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let me go, please," she said, looking at him.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I'm not letting you go, Helga."

Helga stared at him for a moment. Was he serious?

When she realised he had removed his pants, and was settling between her legs, she realised the seriousness of the situation. She swore her heart stopped. She couldn't breath.

"_Don't_," she whispered, looking up at him and shaking her head. "Please, Arnold, don't."

He smiled at her, then pushed himself in.

"NO stop!" she cried out, pulling her wrist against it's bindings to hit him. "Arnold stop, please, stop!"

"I love you," he mumbled. "You were always there for me, Helga, always, and I want to always be here for you,."

"Nyaah, arhhhhnallld, please stop, it hurts!" she moaned. "Stop."

But he ignored her pleas.

It continued through the night. Finally morning came.

"I'll never let you go, Helga," he whispered, before getting out of bed and getting ready for work. "Never."

He left her with those words and a kiss.

….

….

Present:

"So to the good news, and reason for tonight," Arnold said, smiling over at Helga. "We're having a baby."

Gerald's jaw dropped, Phoebe's eyes went wide, and she whipped her head around to Helga, who had frozen midway to her mouth, food falling off the fork. Suddenly Phoebe stood up.

"Your _pregnant_? Four months ago you were going to marry Patrick, and now your pregnant to _Arnold_?" she yelled.

"Phoebe," Gerald started.

"No! do you have any idea how_ hurt_ he was that you didn't show up? What he's been through, put _himself_ through?" Phoebe demanded. "You _crushed him_. _Destroyed_ him!"

"Didn't look too crushed and destroyed with Lila the other day, did he Helga?" Arnold asked, looking at her.

"Lila has been helping him through this," Phoebe snapped.

"Yes, I'm sure her lips have magical healing powers," Arnold replied, rolling his eyes.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, until Helga stood up and left the room.

"Who _are_ you?" Phoebe asked, glaring at Arnold. She looked at Gerald who was frowning at his friend.

Arnold ignored her and got up to follow after Helga, leaving Gerald and Phoebe to stand there in silence. It was Gerald who spoke up first.

"Something's wrong," he said quietly. "Come on."

He and Phoebe went to enter the lounge but heard Arnold whispering furiously to Helga.

"You don't _get it_ do you? He didn't love you. _I_ love you. _We're_ having a baby. We only have each other, didn't Phoebe just show you that?"

Gerald and Phoebe looked at each other, stunned.

"I didn't want this-"

"Too late. Helga you and this baby are all I have. I'd die without you."

They heard Helga crying softly.

"Go to bed, I'll tell them your not well. don't you dare leave the house. I mean it."

There was no mistaking the threat in Arnold's voice. They quietly made their way back to the kitchen, and pretended to have heard nothing.

"Sorry about that," Arnold said, smiling as he came back in. "Might need to call it a night. Helga's not well."

"I'm sorry I caused a scene," Phoebe said. "Please tell Helga I will come by and see her tomorrow."

"We're busy tomorrow. I'll get her to text you when she's free," Arnold said. "Thanks for coming."

"Anytime, man, and if you need anything, either of you, let me know okay?" Gerald said to him.

"We will," Arnold said. But Gerald could tell he didn't mean a word. "See you guys later."

As they left phoebe looked back and up and saw Helga staring down at them sadly. Then quickly look behind her and move away from the window.

Phoebe knew then. Helga wasn't there by choice.

"Gerald, I think Helga's in trouble," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, me too."

…..

"So what did you two _really_ talk about while you guys were hiding out in the kitchen?" Arnold asked, walking into the room. Helga was sitting on the bed, staring at her reflection. She looked so nice tonight.

"Cold feet," she told him again.

"_Really_?" he asked.

Helga nodded. "Really."

She heard him walk over and felt him sit next to her on the bed.

"I love you," he said. Helga just nodded. "Do you love me?"

Helga said nothing.

"Patrick _doesn't_ love you anymore. Maybe he never did," Arnold said like it was no big thing. "I saw him and Lila today. They looked happy."

Helga felt the tears building up. Her head ached. She wanted to cry, but not in front of him. Arnold leaned over and kissed her behind the ear.

"I'm all you have," he whispered. Then placed a hand on her stomach. "And our baby too."

She knew what was coming, and instead of fighting it, just went with it.

Her true love was gone. She was pregnant to her first.

And her heart was broken.

_She_ was broken.

…

Four Months Earlier

….

Patrick stood at the end of the aisle, waiting for his bride. He was so full of excitement and happiness he could barely stay still. He wanted to do cartwheels, and jump around like a as time went on, he started to go from excited to nervous.

Helga was now an hour late.

"Where is she?" he asked aloud.

"I'll go see if Phoebe knows anything," Caleb, his best man and brother said. "Be back in a few."

When Caleb found Phoebe she was in great distress.

"Where's Helga?" he asked, coming into the room.

"I don't know. I cant reach her, Olga cant reach her, and we're freaking out because she wasn't at home but the front door was unlocked, and no one can get hold of her, I don't know where she is!" she screamed. "Where the fuck is she?"

"I've called the police," Olga said coming in.

"The _police_?" Caleb asked. "Why the police?"

"Helga didn't take her phone, or wallet, or any clothes. The bed hasn't been slept in and even the clothes she wore the night before aren't there," Olga explained. "I'm_ really_ worried now."

"Wait, wait, wait," Caleb said, holding up his hands. "What are you trying to say? That you think she was _kidnapped_ or something?"

"I'll try Arnold," Phoebe said.

"Who's Arnold?" Caleb asked, but got no answer.

"Arnold, have you seen or heard from Helga? No? because she's missing! I don't know. I stayed with Gerald last night, but this morning when he dropped me off the front door was unlocked and I went in and her dress hadn't been put on, all her stuff was still there, including her phone . . . What? _Cold feet_? No, Helga was looking forward to this too much." Phoebe went silent. "Okay, but if you see or hear from her,_ please_ get her to call me? Okay, I will, bye."

"_Well_?" Caleb asked.

"He hasn't seen or heard from her since we bumped into him and Gerald at the club last night," she told Olga and Caleb.

"Who is he?" Caleb asked, suspicious. Some strange guy shows up and Helga goes missing?

"A friend from our childhood," Phoebe quickly explained.

"What do I tell my brother?" Caleb asked. "I need to tell him something."

Olga and Phoebe just looked at each other helplessly.

What could he say?


	5. Chapter 5

Arnold got up from bed and walked into the bathroom. Helga was fast asleep. He could barely breath and his heart was racing. He felt like he was going to be sick. These anxiety attacks were getting worse. He was terrified. What if Helga had said something to Phoebe? What if Phoebe tried to take her away from him? Arnold had lied to Helga about Patrick and Lila. He had to make her stop loving Patrick and love him. That's all he wanted.

He couldn't stand the idea of her leaving him like everyone else had. He'd kept up to date on her doings and goings on through Lila, who was a friend of Patrick's. Lila, he knew, was in love with Patrick. Had been for a couple of years. He remembered her gushing to him about the guy. Then the gushing had turned to baffled bitterness as she tried to make sense of why such a guy would love Helga. Arnold knew why, but said nothing to Lila about it. He had to many problems of his own going on. He had been seeing a councillor recently, on request of his last girlfriend, who claimed he was possessive and insecure and had obvious issues, and "What's your obsession with this Helga girl?". His insecure nature and inability to let go of Helga, had destroyed three perfectly good relationships. He didn't know what it was, he just couldn't stand not having Helga in his life. She was the one constant in his life. Until she had met this Patrick guy. Then the emails and letters slowed to a complete stop. Had he told her not to contact him? He'd obsessed over it to the point of nearly making himself sick.

Before high school ended, his grandmother had died. Helga was there for him. After University started his grandfather had died, and again Helga had been there. But before that, Oscar and Susie had divorced, Susie running off with another man. Oscar was kicked out because he wasn't paying rent and refused to get a job. His grandfather had changed after his grandmothers death. Then his aunt Mitzy died, only months after his grandfather. Ernie had had a stroke two weeks after that and went into a home. He died only three weeks before Mr. Hyunh. Helga was by his side each time. She mentioned in passing a guy she had met, but Arnold hadn't been paying much attention at the Arnold found out that his relationship at the time had cheated on him. He never told her he knew. She just came back to her dorm room to find things she left at Arnold's sitting outside her dorm room door. He completely ignored her until she stopped trying to contact him. Then he moved on. But she eventually got sick of him constantly wanting to know where she was, who she was with, when she'd be back, and left him. She had expected it to be hard, and was shocked, and slightly peeved, when he'd just shrugged and said, "That's fine". She'd tried to chase up with him, but he just shut her out completely, as he had with his previous ex-girlfriend. He hadn't cared about them. They were just a way to pass the time and fill the void after Helga had stopped talking to him. He'd gotten in touch with Lila through a social media site, and she updated him as much as she could about Helga's relationship status. When he graduated, she came to it, and then they met up for years after graduating, and while working at Hillwood Memorial, Lila had come to him in tears.

"He asked her to marry him!" she had cried. He had told her to wait at the Boarding House, and he would be there after his shift finished. When he'd finished his shift and arrived home she had repeated what she had told him at the hospital. A strange feeling had arose in Arnold. One he couldn't explain. He comforted Lila, while all the while trying to think of a way to get back into Helga's life. Somehow. To stop her from marrying him.

"I have an idea," he said.

And together him and Lila worked together to stop this marriage from happening.

Helga was his.

….

….

Phoebe and Gerald both stood at the door, listening as the footsteps on the other side got louder as they came closer. Finally the door opened and a blonde woman poked her head out.

"Yeah?" she said, looking at them.

"Are you Christie Foxworth?" Phoebe asked.

"Used to be," she said, opening the door a bit more. "Why?"

"Did you used to date a guy in University called Arnold?" Gerald asked.

"Oh, God, are you serious?" she asked. "For a little while, but he was too much."

"Can we ask you some things?" Phoebe asked.

"About what?" she asked, suspicious.

"Your time with him?"

Christie sighed, and came out, closing the door behind her. They saw then that she was pregnant.

"Nightmare," she said. "He was always wanting to know everything. Where I was, who I was with, what we were talking about-"

"Like he was with Helga the other night," Phoebe said aloud, looking at Gerald. Gerald frowned. He'd never been told any of this. He wasn't even aware that Arnold had had any relationships.

"Helga Pataki, Helga? Blonde hair, big blue eyes?" Christie asked.

"Yeah," Phoebe said, surprised. "Did you know her?"

"May as well have," she replied rolling her eyes. "He was obsessed with her! Apparently she got a new boyfriend and stopped talking to him. He always brought it up when we were drinking. He was really bitter about it."

"When you say obsessed?" Phoebe prodded.

"He had photo's of them together," Christie said. "I asked him about her once. He just said she was his "Guardian Angel" or some crap like that. I think she's why, when I broke up with him, it didn't bother him. It was like you just ceased to exist with him."

"You remember a lot about it all," Gerald said.

Christie sighed.

"Arnold was my first relationship," she said. "It was a huge learning curve, and the lessons stuck. I feel sorry for Helga."

"Why?" Phoebe asked.

"He's . . . manipulative. That's all I'll say," she said. "Is that everything? I need to get ready for dinner. My husband and I are celebrating our one year wedding anniversary!"

"Congratulations," Phoebe said, offering a smile. "And thankyou."

"Just save your friend, okay?" Christie said, entering her house and closing the door behind her.

As they were walking down the path they heard the door open suddenly and her call out for them. Phoebe went back.

"Lily," she said.

"Who?" Phoebe asked, confused.

"Lily . . . I think, or Lila. Red hair, green eyes, annoying baby-sweet voice. She was always visiting, or chatting to him online," Christie told her. "She was so annoying, I don't know how he stood her."

Click, click, click.

"Oh my God, thankyou!" Phoebe said, throwing her arms around Christie. "I think I have an idea of what's happened!"

….

….

"Hey man," Gerald said, walking in past Arnold.

"Gerald, what a surprise," he said. "Where's Phoebe?"

"Huh? Oh, she's off doing girly things with her friends," Gerald lied. "I thought I would come see how my main man was doing."

"Fine," he said, smiling.

Now all Gerald had to do was get Arnold out of the house.

…..

….

"Oh, Phoebe!" Lila said. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Hey, Lila, is Patrick in?" she asked.

"Oh, uh-"

"Phoebe?" she heard him ask. He came into view. He hadn't shaved in a couple of days. Phoebe suppressed a blush. He was the complete opposite of Arnold, that even Phoebe wondered how Helga had fallen for such a guy. Mind you, seeing him with his top off in PJ pants helped her form a guess. He came forward and hugged her. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," she said, looking over at Lila, who was standing there with a plastic smile plastered on her face.

"Can I talk to you alone?" Phoebe asked.

"Sure, here or out?" he asked, glancing at Lila from the corner of his eyes. Phoebe caught on.

"Coffee would be nice," she said smiling.

"Awesome, I'll just go change, and I'll be right with you," he told her. He rushed off upstairs to change and left Phoebe and Lila standing alone together.

"So, how have you been?" she asked her.

"Fine. We went to dinner at Arnold's a couple of nights ago," Phoebe said. Lila shifted from foot to foot and started to play with her hair.

"Yeah? And how is he?" she asked.

"Excited about becoming a father," she said. She wasn't expecting Lila's mouth to drop open.

"Father? Helga's pregnant?" she asked, before covering her mouth with her hands. "Don't tell Patrick."

"I don't intend to hurt him like that," Phoebe said.

"Ready," he called out, coming down the stairs. "Bye Lila."

Phoebe smiled at Lila over her shoulder.

"Yes, good bye Lila."

They made their way to his car and hopped in.

"So, where to?" he asked.

"Your that eager to get away from Lila?" she asked.

"Girl's like a rash," he growled. "Every single day she shows up and hangs around, and cooks and cleans like she Susie-fucking-homemaker or something."

"She loves you," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, well she can go love someone else, cause I don't love her," he said.

"That's not what Helga's heard."

"What?" he asked, looking at her quickly.

"Drive to Vine Street, and you'll see what I mean," Phoebe told him.

"What the fuck is going on?" Patrick demanded, starting the car.

"Can't say, but I'm sure Helga will tell you" she said.

"Helga? Whats she got to do with this?" he demanded, getting angry. "And she ditched me on our wedding day. What could she have to say?"

"That it wasn't her choice."


End file.
